The Smallton vanishings
by Horrorfana
Summary: As Katie awaits the inevitable, we see the events that led to a town masked in fear and paranoia. How a simple melody could bring people to their demise. Modernization of the pied piper.


Katie watches the alarm clock beside her bed in dreaded anticipation. The numbers change and she lets out a shuttered breath she wasn't aware she had been holding. She pulls her knees to her chest and feels silent tears stream down her cheeks. As of now it is the day before her eighteenth birthday, and she knows it is the day she will die.

...

The vanishings began with little notice. Teenagers vanish around the country all the time. Therefore it is understandable how seventeen year old Miranda seemingly vanished from her home in the dead of night. Her father mourned and the quaint town resumed its tranquil state as usual. It was only the children who seemed baffled by the incident. Her classmates knew she had no reason to simply run away. She was at the top of her senior class, the schools vice president, and an avid environmentalist. Her boyfriend of two and a half years led the search for where she had gone. The police were no help, they accurately pointed out that her bedroom window had been opened from the inside, and there was no sign of a struggle. Because of this, the children were sent away with their protests.

Things had seemed to have calmed for good by three weeks time. The children had their minds on more current events. Another girl, Sarah, had a large and lavish birthday planned in a few days time, she would be turning eighteen. She was one of the kindest girls in the entire school. She would help and support the other children in times of distress. She would hug students as she would spot them in the hallway. She would happily share her parents vast wealth with the other children as they would come to require it. Every girl wanted to be her and every boy wanted to date her. Thus, as you can imagine, when she vanished early on the eve of her birthday, the town was outraged. This time when the children responded to the disappearance, the parents stopped to listen. A large search was sent out for the girl, to no prevail.

Although anxiety hovered above the small town like a thick fog, parents and children alike made attempts to move on. The following week, another girls birthday approached. Michelle wasn't nearly as well known as the other girls. She didn't have many friends due to her isolated and eccentric ways. Her disappearance went unnoticed by her distant parents for ten days. The children barely noticed her dissapearance. Most only realized it had occured due to the gossip among the town. The vanishings were quickly becoming an epidemic. An epidemic that needed a solution, no matter how grim it may be. As the parents planned, the children could only wait for the next victim to make herself known.

On the week before Ashleys eighteenth birthday, her family sent her away, to a secret place. The parents of the town were somber from this news, while the children remained optimistic that Ashley had avoided the horrors of the town. Only when David, her boyfriend, decided to try to investigate why she wasn't communicating with him, did a new horror reveal itself. The children went in search of answers. Late one night, they snuck out of their homes with flashlights in hand, and traveling to the location where they had agreed to meet. The remaining senior class met behind their school, at the football field.

David led the search throughout the town, searching every building they come across, with hopes, and secret dread. Everywhere they would go, there would be no one in sight. When they came across the small clinic that resides within the town, one girl suggested they search it as well. The group agreed and decided it would be best if only two went inside, seeing how there was a light on inside the small clinic. David and a mousy girl named Katie decided to be the ones to go inside. Once the door was unlocked, David led the way inside, with Katie following closely behind. The other children would stand watch to prevent any sudden interuptions.

The two searched the clinic high and low for any sign of Ashley. They searched everywhere from the attic to the basement, to no prevail. Only when they decided to abandon their search, did they hear the sounds of a girl softly crying. They followed the noise and quickly realized it came from behind one of the walls. Katie felt around until she came across a hidden switch and activated it, causing the wall to slide open. David instructed Katie to stay in the hallway while he searched the hidden corridor. Katie agreed and stood as far away from the hidden entrance as was possible. For the first few minutes, she could hear David wandering throughout the hallways, but soon enough, the sounds fadded into an eerie silence.

Kate hugged herself and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt a sudden chill in the air. A whisper of a whistle seemed to surround her and slowly creep into her ears. A quiet tune that slowly pulled her mind into a state of ease. After a few minutes, she hesitantly opened her eyes to face whatever was making the sound. She expected a monster or a demon of sorts, but was taken aback by the sight of a young man, no older than twenty three, with hair the color of ravens. He was watching her with a strange curiousity, as though he had never seen a girl like her before. Katie gulped nervously as the tune steadily got louder. She took a few steps back in panic, but the boy merely smiled a sweet and innocent smile.

Katie demanded to know who he was and how he had gotten inside with the children standing watch. The mans smile never faltered and he never moved a muscle from where he stood. Katie covered her ears with her hands as she tried desperately to block out the melody drifting between her ears. She shouted for the man to stop whatever it was that he was doing, but the man merely continued to smile sweetly. The tune began to lull her into a blissful state. Katie fought against the tune with all her willpower and inner strength, to no prevail. It wasn't long before she gave in to the calm and pleasant sensations.

The melody was all she heard, she only felt blissfully content. She slowly began to move where the tune led her, away from the wall, to the man. The man still didn't chance his pleasant expression as Katie walked to him, step by step. She stopped directly in front of the man, sweet smiles now on both their faces. Katie slowly reached up to touch the mans face. She was taking a good amount of time in each of her actions, but the man didn't seem to mind, he only seemed happy and content. Just before Katie could touch his face, David could be heard stumbling twords the hidden entrance. The man jerks his head in the direction of the noise and lets out a small growl as his expression turns to anger.

Katie watches in a daze as the man turns back to her and smiles sweetly once more. This time, he leans in by her head and sniffs the air. An expression of euphoria crosses his face for a split second before he pulls back. Katie begins to panic as the tune begins to fade. Still in her trance, she quickly reaches out and grabs the mans arm. He looks down to where she had made physical contact and he continues to smile as he leans in and plants a chaste kiss on Katies cheek. No sooner had he pulled away, had David come stumbling out into the hallway.

Katie turns back to the man only to find he has vanished. David ran over to Katie, exhausted. He explained how he had seen Ashley for but a moment, before she began to hum blissfully and then vanished in thin air. Katie paused thoughtfully before she asked David when was Ashleys birthday. David paled as he confessed that it was in two days, he checked his watch and corrected himself. With a gulp he told Katie that since it was after midnight, it was officially the day before her birthday.

Both David and Katie refused to speak of that night for fear of why Ashley was locked away. None of the children had birthdays approaching so the town fell into a state of ease over three months time. Most moved past the vanishings. However with each day, the dread within Katie would grow. Her birthday was quickly approaching, but this time, the town didn't want to help.

On the night before the eve of her birthday, her parents locked her bedroom door, and refused to speak with their daughter that entire day. So as the clock signaled her impending fate, she cried her silent tears, for it wasn't long, before an all too familiar melody invaded her ears.


End file.
